Predators at the Throat: Phoenix vs Wolf
The members of Underworld sat by their campfire in the dead of night. Pluto looked upon his new elite mages, proud of the work he'd accomplished. "A toast," he said, raising his glass, "to the power of our guild!" The members cheered in approval, and each downed a gulp of the water they had on hand. Armin then began sniffing the air. He got down on all fours, and began to follow the scent. "What is it boy?" asked Gram mockingly. Armin rose back to his feet, and began signing to Gram. "There's someone else nearby." "Oh shit, really? Well let's go check it out." "No," interrupted Pluto. "Armin will go alone. I'm sure you're hungry as well. Have at it." Armin nodded to his master and followed the scent into the woods. Pluto was right. His mouth salivated at the idea of the ripe flesh he would get to devour. It had been some time since he'd tasted human flesh. But as he got closer he realized, the scent was not that of a man, but of a bird. That didn't deter him in the slightest however, as he was still famished, and craving for meat. His lupine instincts kicked in as he took to all fours and sprinted to the source of the scent. In the far distance in the forest, a proud and magnificent Oqaid took a short rest beside a pond, washing away the excess oils and dust from his feathers. His name was Sagewing, the leader of the avian people, branded as the mightiest of his kin. He quite enjoyed his short little bath until his sound magic made him aware of something in his surroundings. He looked back, trying to get a glimpse of the approaching entity, but he saw nothing. None the less, he braced himself for the worst as he conjured up ethernano wires. As Armin approached, he jumped into the air, latching onto a tree, and continuing from the tree tops. He continued to approach his quarry, and stopped upon the pond. He saw the bird by the pond, prepared for combat. He must have been able to sense him somehow. He jumped from the tree, blue energy from his magic covering his hand as he lunged at the bird, aiming to impale him through the chest. Sagewing heard the rustling of leafs. He looked up at the tree tops, now seeing a great muscular human pouncing it's way towards him. He made a few waves with his talons, sending the wires towards the intruding human in a great frenzy. The wires were aimed to constrict and hang up the human for interrogation. Noticing the wires, blue light covered his entire body. He spun in a circle, pushing the wires away from him. He landed on all fours a few feet away from the bird. He returned to an upright position, and began staring him down. He didn't speak a word, and he stance didn't show any signs of violence. Sagewing straightened his stance, staring down the man before him. Sagewing towered well above the man, a feature which commonly frightened many a human, yet this one seemed unphased. Sagewing considered speaking up, but soemthing told him that spending energy to speak with this thing would be a waste. As such he struck a new stance, wires flaring around and about him. Noticing his opponent didn't want to speak to him, Armin brandished one of pistols, and fired an enchanted Black Steel bullet directly towards him, designed for piercing through magical defense. Sagewing stood adamant as the strange human drew his gun, not even moving for an inch. As soon as the the trigger was pulled, a powerful gust of wind picked, which threatened to throw Armin off his stance. The bullet traveled right past Sagewing's beaked head, crashing into and piercing a nearby tree behind him. Sagewing had barely moved a muscle, yet he was still capable of such winds. he took this opportunity to blaze away with hís wires, forming a dome around Armin, which rapidly closed in in hope of entangling him. At the same time, more wires came his way, only these were extremely sharp ones, meant for slicing up his pistol, rendering the weapon useless. Suddenly, Armin's free hand glowed blue once again, in one fluid motion, the wires were cut, and his pistol was safe. He holstered it, seeing as it probably wouldn't be of much assistance in this battle. Armin exhaled, a vibrant blue aura surrounding his body. Suddenly Sagewing could feel an immediate decrease in his magic power. Armin crouched onto all fours, and in a flash of blue lightning, Armin was already upon him, and aiming his clawed hand towards Sagewing's gut. The wires, being made out of ethernano rather than traditional material, realigned and repaired themselves. These wires came down once more, tying themself around Armin's arm and was then used to throw him aside. He let go of his wires and drew his swords, their, blackened metal gleaming in the moonlight. Sagewing struck a stance and prepared himself for the strangers next move. Armin looked around, gathering his surroundings. The wires made it difficult for him to get close. Even with his incredible speed he'd get caught before he could deal an effective blow. But that wouldn't stop him. He crouched down onto all fours again, and mist seemed to leek off of his body. He looked towards Sagewing, revealing his face to have changed into that of a half wolf's, his eye glowing red. He once again charged at Sagewing in a flash of blue, but what he didn't know was that this time, the mist would stop Sagewing from wrapping his wires around him, as it was truly his magical energy. He aimed to grab Sagewing by both his arms, preventing him from protecting himself from Armin biting the bird's throat with his serrated teeth. "Phoenix Soul: Ala Morte." Sagewing spoke, partally taking on the form of his mighteiest phoenix form. As Armin came closer to him, he finally made his move. He stepped to the side, sweeping with the sword with the flat end, pushing the arm that aimed to grab him aside, making Armin fly right by him and as he did, the other sword made a slash against against his hind legs, hoping to incapacitate him. The blade cut him, but as it did, Armin's entire body turned into mist. He reformed just below Sagewing, and aimed a devastating uppercut towards his jaw. Due to the very obvious nature of the mist and that Armin seemingly didn't really go to any real extents to evade, confuse or hide from Sagewing, he found it rather easy to keep Armin at bay. He smacked the arm aside and went in for a scissor cut across his gut and then kicked the ground hard enough to be sent hurtling into the air and away from Armin. When Sagewing attacked this time, all the blades served to do was bounce off of his body. The mist's hardening ability saving him this time. But with Sagewing not very far off the ground, and Armin only demonstrating physical attacks, it would be unlikely he would be prepared for his next move. In a second, Armin charged up and fired a beam of blue energy from his mouth, like a Dragon's Roar, up towards the unsuspecting bird. Due to the distance between him and Armin, Sagwing had just enough time to use his swords to block the beam. He crossed his swords, stopping the beam from making true impact upon him. However, due to that he could no longer maintain his height and position, and as such, he was forced backwards into a tree, his clawed feet making impact first, allowing to dampen the crash. He held himself in position before moving out of the way of the beam. "Haunting Adagio." He murmured, sending eight spectral shadows flying towards Armin. Armin focused his magic power into his mouth again, with his body once again taking on a wolf-like appearance. He fired Wolf Moon Beams at each of the shades, designed to burn through the magical energy that comprised their being. Armin's powerful aura only seemed to get larger as the battle continued, while Sagewing would soon begin to feel an immense drop in his own power. The phantoms remained unaffected by Armin's spell work, as due to their nature they remain invulvernable to all manners of spell, obstacles and physical moves. they continued their approach, slowly by steadily. Meanwhile, Sagewing was not about to simply allow the shades to do all the work, as they clearly wouldn't be enough. Depsite feeling the lowering amount of power within him, he still knew that he was more than powerful enough to win, given the chance. It just meant lower scales in his feats, but what he could accomplish now was already astounding. He charged forward, dashing across the water and his swords ablaze with magic, making them even sharper than before. Mist wafted off of Armin's body, and suddenly Sagewing had cut through him. But upon further examination, he noticed that what he had cut through was Armin's jacket, which was now obscuring his vision. Reforming behind Sagewing, Armin had the barrel of his gun pointed directly towards Sagewing's back. He didn't hesitate the pull the trigger, with only his arm fully solid at the time he fired. Through the aid of his sound magic, Sagewing still remained fully aware of his surrounding, despite the obscuring piece of cloth. He swung his two swords around, and positioned them right in front of the barrel, blocking the incoming bullet. He then swiftly spun around and sliced up the gun in his hand, severely shortening the barrel. As he performed this action, he began to make a piercing motion against his physical arm, intending to pierce it and slice it open. The sword pierced through Armin's arm. The blood that was drawn proved it. But Armin didn't show the slightest bit of hesitation. He pulled his arm backwards with great sudden force, using his mist to keep the blade stationary, and aiming to disarm him of his blade. With his arm surrounded in his magical energy he then aimed a power punch towards Sagewing's gut, and, expecting him to block the initial assault, followed through with a strong and fast kick, which had enough power behind it to bisect a normal man. Sagewing maintained his hold on the sword, keeping it in place, unabling Armin to pull backwards. When the punch came his way he swiftly brought down the flat end of his sword to block it. Sagewing grinned at his successful parry, then came the tricky part. Armin aimed a migthy kick towards Sagewing, and with both his arms occupied, he was left with but one choice. Sagewing released his left blade which had pierced Armins arm and used it to block the incoming kick, with considerably more effort. He did not plan on letting this shot go. He grabbed a hold of Armin's leg, and with a heave, he threw away Armin a great distance. A rather easy feat as Armin held a sloppy stance due to standing on his one solitary foot. Armin began to fly through the air, but his aura flared up once again, and he was able to stop himself. He was flying using his magic. He looked at his arm. Although the result wasn't ideal, Armin had successfully disarmed Sagewing of one of his swords. He pulled the blade from his arm, and the wound had already began to close. Not being much of a swordsman, Armin figured he wouldn't be able to wield it effectively. He took the blade by each end, with his teeth sharpening as he went under another partial transformation. He placed the blade between his teeth, and began to bite down. It wasn't too long until Armin had successfully but the blade in two. He spit out small shards of metal along with some blood, and threw the two halves a great distance into the pond. Sagewing had destroyed one of Armin's guns, now he was returning the favor. He floated back to the ground, showing off his regenerated arm, followed by him opening his mouth to reveal the unscathed inside, which had also regenerated. He was broadcasting to him "You can't kill me." He took up one of his various fighting stances as he slowly approached Sagewing, then in a sudden flash of blue light, he was already aiming an aerial kick, stronger than the previous one, towards Sagewing's chest. A kick strong enough to completely shatter the body of anyone that didn't have immense physical strength, and could shatter steel. "Monstrous Cadenza." he spoke and as he did, his body grew more thick. While he was confident in his abilities to block the incoming strike, he did not desire to take any chances. He raised his left arm, which he used to block the kick towards his chest. "No? So sad, I always wanted a fur carpet." he said as his hand started to whirls with shadows, ethernano and steel wires taking form at his talons. "Horrific Sonata." he whispered and waved his talons, sending the wires against the leg he had blocked, intending to slice it wide open. When the wires cut through his leg, he transformed his leg into mist, phasing through the attack. With his leg not stuck, he fell slightly forward, the momentum giving him the perfect angle to strike Sagewing's chest. He aimed his clawed hand at the target, aiming to impale him with his magically enhanced attack.